Chapter 31 : Chapter 31
Chapter 31. The One Hooked Up
Alice scattered a handful of Flash Dust, which burst into a blinding flash of light.
The leading assassins were caught completely off guard, instinctively shutting their eyes or turning their heads aside, their movements briefly faltering.
Yet in that very instant, a chill far more biting than the frigid winds of the mountains seized the hearts of everyone present without warning.
It was not a physical cold.
Instead, it felt like an absolute sense of domination that originated from the depths of the soul, as though some ancient and terrifying natural predator had quietly awakened, its icy gaze sweeping across every living being on the snowy plain.
Everyone’s movements froze.
Instinctively, they all stopped and looked around in shock, trying to locate the source of the overwhelming pressure that made it hard for them to breathe.
Within the endless blizzard, a figure slowly walked out.
Logaris West wore a black research robe trimmed with golden threads and a pair of rimless glasses.
His steps were so calm that it seemed as if he were strolling through his own study rather than a perilous snow-covered mountain.
However, as he drew closer, the immense and terrifyingly pure fluctuations of Mana became increasingly clear.
It spread like an invisible net, covering the entire battlefield and making the air itself feel thick and heavy.
The feline assassin who had been about to land a fatal blow suddenly felt something strange in his hand.
The very tip of his poisoned dagger—the sharpest section—snapped off without warning.
The broken fragment dropped into the snow with a faint sound that was barely audible.
The assassin froze completely.
He lowered his head to stare at the broken weapon in his hand, his face filled with shock and fear.
Logaris had already walked close.
He removed his glasses and calmly wiped them with a velvet cloth.
His gaze slowly swept across the battlefield as though he were inspecting a poorly executed experiment.
“Inefficient combat methods.”
“A waste of time.”
His voice was not loud, yet every person present heard it clearly.
The assassin leader narrowed the eyes hidden behind his mask.
From this suddenly appearing man, he sensed an extremely dangerous aura.
“Kill him!”
With a single command, the assassins abandoned their original target.
All of them turned and charged toward Logaris.
Behind a distant tree, Lilith poked her head out and silently mourned for the assassins for exactly one second.
Then she began calculating how much the equipment and weapons on those Demi-Human assassins could sell for.
Logaris put his glasses back on.
His expression remained as calm as ever.
He did not perform any casting gesture.
Nor did he chant any spell.
At the moment the assassins lunged toward him—
“BUZZ!”
An invisible force suddenly erupted from Logaris as the center.
The snow beneath the charging Demi-Human assassins violently exploded.
Seven or eight enormous black ice coffins engraved with strange runic patterns burst out from the ground as if rising from the abyss.
Before anyone could react, the coffins swallowed every panicked figure in an instant.
“CRACK!” “CRACK!”
Dense and muffled closing sounds rang out like the precise harvest of the Grim Reaper’s scythe.
The assassins who had been filled with killing intent just a second ago were now all sealed inside the black burial coffins of ice.
Frozen in their attacking postures, they became eerie statues on the snowfield that inspired dread.
There was no roaring explosion.
There was no surge of energy.
There was only an absolute power beyond comprehension crushing everything.
In that instant, the entire snowfield fell into deathly silence.
On the other side, Alice remained lying flat on the snow.
Her small mouth hung open, and her crimson eyes widened in disbelief.
Her famously sharp tongue, which never spared anyone, had completely lost its function for the first time.
What… kind of magic was that?
She had never seen it.
Nor had she ever read about anything like it in any book.
Her mind was in complete chaos.
In the end, all her thoughts condensed into a single conclusion.
This is what a real mage looks like.
Alectos leaned against his greatsword and knelt on one knee, gasping heavily for breath.
Although his injuries were severe, as a dragon-blooded Demi-Human, his perception of Aether fluctuations far surpassed that of ordinary people.
He could clearly sense the immense and pure Mana being manipulated by the man before him.
This person was far stronger than all of them combined.
Stronger than them.
Stronger even than all those assassins together.
We are saved.
At least for now.
That was the only thought in his mind.
“Hey! Are you still alive?”
Alice finally snapped out of her daze.
She scrambled to her feet and rushed to Alectos' side to examine his injuries.
While frantically rummaging through her alchemy pouch for a healing potion, she spat toward the ice coffins.
“Hmph! A bunch of useless trash!”
“I thought you were impressive, but you cannot even defeat a passing adventurer!”
Her voice had already returned to its usual sharp and sarcastic tone.
Logaris and Lilith slowly walked over.
Alice immediately stood up in vigilance.
She positioned herself in front of the severely injured Alectos.
One hand gripped her staff while the other pointed at Logaris.
“Y-You! Who are you?”
“What do you want?”
“I am warning you, we do not have any money! Do not even think about robbing us!”
Logaris felt somewhat speechless.
Rob them?
His own savings were probably larger than the treasuries of some small countries.
Ignoring her shouting, Logaris' gaze fell on Alectos.
“Golden dragon scales.”
“In the Demi-Human Empire, that represents royal blood.”
“And a person like that being hunted by a group of Demi-Human assassins all the way into the Dragon Mountain Range.”
“Interesting.”
His tone was calm, as though he were merely stating an objective fact.
Hearing this, Alectos revealed a bitter smile.
He struggled to straighten his body and performed a standard noble salute toward Logaris.
“Respected and powerful mage, thank you for your assistance.”
“My name is Alectos.”
“As you said, I am indeed a member of the royal family of the Demi-Human Empire.”
He spoke very frankly.
In front of a powerhouse of this level, any attempt at deception would only appear foolish.
“As for being hunted…”
He glanced at the ice coffins.
“It is a long story.”
“It involves certain internal conflicts within the empire.”
Seeing this, Alice lowered her staff.
However, she still crossed her arms and stared at Logaris with suspicion.
“Who exactly are you?”
“Why help us?”
“We do not know you at all, so you must have bad intentions.”
“Me?”
Logaris glanced at her.
“I am merely a scholar with a bit of interest in alchemy and ancient ruins.”
Alice rolled her eyes.
That explanation was practically the same as saying nothing.
“Then what is the relationship between this young lady and this dragon-blooded gentleman?” Logaris asked as he looked toward Alectos.
Alice explained with a disgruntled expression.
“Bad luck, that is what it is.”
“A while ago, I was fishing downstream in a river.”
“I did not catch any fish.”
“Instead, I hooked him out of the river.”
“He was covered in wounds and completely unconscious.”
“I saw that his clothes looked expensive, so I casually saved him.”
“Who knew he would turn out to be such a troublesome burden!”
The more she spoke, the angrier she became.
“He promised to pay me a large sum of money if I escorted him to the Dragon Mountain Range to find something.”
“I thought the commission sounded pretty good, so I accepted.”
“But what happened next?”
“I have barely seen any money at all, and I get chased by assassins every single day!”
Logaris listened to her complaints without any emotional reaction.
He only focused on the key information.
Alectos had been hunted down and forced to flee here.
And according to the Book of Prophecy, the one who would overturn the world would appear from the Dragon Mountain Range.
This timing.
This location.
This identity.
Could he be the person mentioned in the prophecy?
Logaris' mind raced rapidly, yet his expression remained completely calm.
Prophecies were always full of traps and misleading wording.
Before obtaining more clues, any conclusion would be premature.
He looked at the badly injured prince.
Then he looked at the noisy yet clearly inexperienced third-tier novice mage standing beside him.
A plan quietly formed in his mind.
“Your current situation is extremely dangerous,” Logaris said.
“This was only the first wave of pursuers.”
“There will soon be a second wave.”
“And a third wave.”
“With just the two of you, you will not make it out of the Dragon Mountain Range alive.”
Alice snorted.
“You do not need to remind me!”
“I happen to know a place,” Logaris continued.
“It is sufficiently hidden and sufficiently safe.”
“You can temporarily avoid further pursuit there.”
Alice’s eyes immediately brightened.
However, her expression quickly turned wary again.
“Why?”
“Why would you help us?”
“What exactly do you want?”
In this world, there was no such thing as a free meal.
That was the first rule she had learned as a mercenary.
Before Logaris could respond, Alectos spoke first.
His voice was hoarse but firm.
“Miss Alice, we have no other choice.”
Alectos knew that the mysterious black-robed mage before them was far stronger than himself.
If the man truly had any ulterior motives, he would not need to go through such trouble.
“We are willing to follow you to the safe place you mentioned,” Alectos said solemnly.
Logaris nodded.
“Follow me.”
He turned around and walked toward the deeper parts of the mountain range.
Lilith immediately jogged after him.
Alice stared at his back.
Then she looked at the severely injured Alectos beside her.
In the end, she could only stomp her foot in frustration.
“Hey! Wait for me!”
“Why are you walking so fast?”
“Do you not see there is an injured person here?”
She supported Alectos and hurried after them.
At the same time, she continued muttering under her breath.
“That guy definitely does not look like a good person…”
“He is probably planning to lure us somewhere and rob us…”
“Hey, golden-scales.”
“If the two of us die, you had better turn into a vengeful ghost and come back to haunt him.”
“There is no way I can beat him…”
Their figures soon disappeared into the depths of the snow-covered mountains.